Unwelcome visitor drops in on Baker woman's floor

Published: Thursday, April 17, 2014 at 06:25 PM.

BAKER — A couple of weeks ago Sharon Jones had an unwelcome visitor drop in to her rural north Okaloosa County home.

A bullet.

“I heard gunshots behind the house, then a bullet came through the kitchen wall,” Jones recalled.

Jones called the law, and an Okaloosa County deputy came out to her JDJ Lane home. She said the deputy picked up the spent round that had landed on her floor and put it in his pocket.

Then, she said, he went out and found the people who fired the shot, notified them of what had happened and basically told them to be careful.

She remains irritated at what she believes was a lackluster investigation resulting in no one even being issued a citation.

“They just didn’t take it very serious,” she said.

Okaloosa Sheriff’s Office Sgt. Jeff Morgan said “a few more details should have been put in the report” of the incident by the officer who took it.

But, he said, Jones lives in a rural area backing up to heavy woods. People shoot guns out there all the time, he said.

“In that area of the county there are a lot of folks who do shoot, we go to a lot of calls involving shots fired,” Morgan said. “As long as they adhere to the law there is nothing we can do.”

Deputy Dennis Barnett, who responded to Jones’ initial call, noted in his report that the round had pierced the wall near the back door and landed on the floor of the dining room.

“I still heard shooting off to the west.” Barnett noted in his report.

He found five people standing around a pickup truck and noticed a couple of firearms in the back of the vehicle. The group admitted to target shooting into the wooded area.

Informed of what happened, the report said, the people apologized and said they didn’t realize there were homes in the area or that the bullets they were shooting could penetrate the deep woods they were firing into.

No citations were issued.

That was probably a good thing, Morgan said, because there’s no way the five people found target shooting at a point west of Jones’ property could have been the ones whose bullet found its way into her dining room.

“Her house faces east and west and the bullet came in from the south,” Morgan said. “That makes that shot impractical.”

He said the fact the bullet dropped to the floor immediately after entering Jones’ home also indicates that wherever it came from, the shot was not likely fired with the intention of hitting the residence.

BAKER — A couple of weeks ago Sharon Jones had an unwelcome visitor drop in to her rural north Okaloosa County home.

A bullet.

“I heard gunshots behind the house, then a bullet came through the kitchen wall,” Jones recalled.

Jones called the law, and an Okaloosa County deputy came out to her JDJ Lane home. She said the deputy picked up the spent round that had landed on her floor and put it in his pocket.

Then, she said, he went out and found the people who fired the shot, notified them of what had happened and basically told them to be careful.

She remains irritated at what she believes was a lackluster investigation resulting in no one even being issued a citation.

“They just didn’t take it very serious,” she said.

Okaloosa Sheriff’s Office Sgt. Jeff Morgan said “a few more details should have been put in the report” of the incident by the officer who took it.

But, he said, Jones lives in a rural area backing up to heavy woods. People shoot guns out there all the time, he said.

“In that area of the county there are a lot of folks who do shoot, we go to a lot of calls involving shots fired,” Morgan said. “As long as they adhere to the law there is nothing we can do.”

Deputy Dennis Barnett, who responded to Jones’ initial call, noted in his report that the round had pierced the wall near the back door and landed on the floor of the dining room.

“I still heard shooting off to the west.” Barnett noted in his report.

He found five people standing around a pickup truck and noticed a couple of firearms in the back of the vehicle. The group admitted to target shooting into the wooded area.

Informed of what happened, the report said, the people apologized and said they didn’t realize there were homes in the area or that the bullets they were shooting could penetrate the deep woods they were firing into.

No citations were issued.

That was probably a good thing, Morgan said, because there’s no way the five people found target shooting at a point west of Jones’ property could have been the ones whose bullet found its way into her dining room.

“Her house faces east and west and the bullet came in from the south,” Morgan said. “That makes that shot impractical.”

He said the fact the bullet dropped to the floor immediately after entering Jones’ home also indicates that wherever it came from, the shot was not likely fired with the intention of hitting the residence.